Technology Tools for Classroom Use

I will list the technology tools that I have used and provide a brief description of how they have been applied so far.

animoto.com
This is a great site where pictures can be uploaded and a song can be selected for a 30 second video. All you have to do is click "submit" for a video to be created for showcasing events, projects, etc. It will leave you with a code to embed where you can copy and paste it to your blog. I have used Animoto to display pictures from our class party as well as a newsletter project that my students published.

mind42.com
I love this site because it involves mind mapping. My students are studying linking verbs and I thought that a visual representation of how verbs link adjectives or nouns back to the subject would benefit those visual and tactile learners. You can zoom in and out to determine the size of the map, and you can also collapse or expand the nodes that show the parts of speech of the words that are being linked. I am still learning how to use it, but pictures can be added to represent words and there are so many other possibilities for its use. You can even store your maps and search for public maps that have already been created and available for others to use. Here's my mindmap to show how it can be used in the English classroom: Mindmap

wordle.com
This a great way to use words creatively. I have used them to display a list of vivid verbs that could be used in a paragraph or essay. The vivid verbs I used in my wordle all related to the to the action that would take place during a New Year's Eve celebration. The more a word is entered, the larger it appears on the wordle, and in order to connect compound words, a tilde (~) can be typed between them. You can then play around the font style and color as well as choose a horizontal and/or vertical view. I have also used Wordle to display the 6 levels of Blooms Taxonomy to get the students familiar with the level of thinking they are using when completing various activities. You can check this out on my class blog and wiki site.
Verb Wordle & Blooms Taxonomy Wordle